Galen King

Galen King first got the urge to fly airplanes growing up on the farm in Southeast PA. After 34 years of waiting he finally started taking flying lessons. Years of practice produced Commercial, AMEL, and Instrument notations on the license, even a G100 type rating. He has been privileged to fly for the poorest and the wealthiest people of this world, both with great equipment. A volunteer bush pilot in Guatemala and corporate jet driver out of Pennsylvania USA. He has owned three small airplanes and even likes to talk about how he has owned the current airplane, a Cherokee, twice. Another story….

Oh how I concentrated as the flight progressed, identifying those check points, talking to flight following, receiving timely handoffs from one sector to the next and being the best student pilot I could be. Then at the appropriate time, I dialed in, as instructed by approach control, the correct four digits in the correct sequence, hit ident in the transponder and eventually found myself in the traffic pattern with regional jets!

I was loaded with my precious passengers, sitting at the end of the grass, holding the brakes as I brought the power up, airplane shaking and rattling in the classic way of the short field takeoff procedure. The Cessna 206 lurched ahead on brake release and we bounced our way forward. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the fence post marker pass.

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